Gourd Growing Diary

I am sad to say my attempt at growing gourds was unsuccessful. I had four plants. Two of the plants never bore any flowers or pepos (baby gourds). One bore flowers only. And, one bore flowers and pepos. The pepos died off within days of their development. I believe the plants did not do well primarily because of a lack of sun. I get less than two hours of sun per day on my patio. Then, my plants were plagued with powdery mildew even though I treated them with organic fungicide.

Gourd Growing Diary Update

My gourd plants have turned into vines. And, I have one white blossom with a pepo or baby gourd so far. I also got this book, Gourds in Your Garden, by Ginger Summit, which has been very helpful. I learned that:

1). Ornamental and luffa gourd plants bloom during the day and have yellow blossoms.

2). Hardshell gourds bloom at night and have white blossoms.

3). Blossoms of all the vines last only 24 hours.

4). The vines have both female and male blossoms.

Gourd Growing Diary

I am sad to report that my sproutlings died. Undaunted, I decided to try again. This time I took three seeds and planted each in individual pots about an inch deep in potting soil. I also left them outside instead growing them inside. I watered them every other day. One sprouted. The other two did not. I replanted the two pots with two seeds per pot. And, I am happy to say that all the seeds sprouted and are growing beautifully.